Ten curated Scope NYC picks for Thursday, May 14.
A Rough Trade signing with Mike Ness gives the night a real punk-history anchor before the usual Thursday show calendar takes over.
Yuskavage at Zwirner is an easy Chelsea priority: major painter, focused gallery setting, and a 6 PM window that works before a later plan.
Kevin Beasley at Casey Kaplan adds a more tactile, contemporary counterweight to the big-name Chelsea openings.
A heavy bill at Music Hall of Williamsburg cuts through the softer Thursday options and should draw a crowd that is there for the full lineup.
The Roy Hargrove Big Band residency remains one of the better recurring jazz bets in the city, especially in The Jazz Gallery scale.
Morricone Youth live-scoring a 1926 animated landmark at Nitehawk is the rare film pick that earns its spot as a live event.
CPR is a strong bet when you want performance that is smaller-scale and more exploratory than the institutional theater listings.
Stephan Crump bringing Kenny Warren, David Leon, and Ches Smith into Close Up makes this a serious improvised-music pick without the midtown gloss.
Dave Douglas at the Vanguard is the polished jazz option tonight, but the Gifts Quintet lineup keeps it from feeling like a default prestige booking.
Grace marking twenty years is a downtown performance-art marker, and Night 2 should have more edge than a standard gallery crawl stop.